An early Aiden O’Brien goal saw a below-par Brentford slip to defeat a 1-0 defeat at Millwall – after which Thomas Frank insisted he is confident his star players are going nowhere.
The Bees – the Championship’s form steam – never got going against a committed and well-organised side who dominated the match after taking an early lead.
After surviving an early scare when Murray Wallace’s header from a Jed Wallace free kick was ruled offside, the Bees fell behind following a mix-up in defence.
David Raya took one touch too many, and after Tom Bradshaw closed him down, the ball fell to O’Brien who fired the ball into the bottom corner of an open goal.
Raya then had to tip over Shaun Williams’ fine 30-yard effort after Josh Dasilva hooked the ball clear on the edge of his box.
It took Brentford half an hour to register their first attempt, a fine left footed half-volley from Bryan Mbeumo which Bartosz Bialkowski palmed away.
Yet more sloppy defending allowed Wallace to break through the middle before a fine covering block from Ethan Pinnock thwarted him.
The Bees began the second half in more determined fashion, but it took a quarter of an hour before they really threatened. A fine pass from from Watkins on the left was met by the head of Mbeumo but blocked.
In the closing minutes a rare slick passing move culminated in Bialkowski grabbing substitute Jan Zamburek’s shot from the edge of the box, but the Bees were unable to avoid a loss which saw them drop down to fourth in the table.
With his team still very much in the promotion hunt, boss Frank is confident every effort will be made to keep the squad intact.
“Yes, I think we will keep hold of Ollie Watkins and Said Benrahma in January,” he said.
“I can’t see why they would go anywhere. That’s my personal opinion. They are enjoying their football and love how we do things at Brentford.
“There is a time and a place for that [to move] but it’s not now for either of them.”
Brentford (4-3-3): Raya; Dalsgaard, Pinnock, Jansson, Henry [Valencia 80]; Jensen [Zamburek 71], Mokotjo, Da Silva; Mbeumo, Benrahma, Watkins.
This post was last modified on 29/12/2019